The Best Android Phones

We spend dozens of hours each year testing the latest Android smartphones in everyday use, and we think the Google Pixel is the best Android phone for most people. It has the fastest performance of any Android phone we’ve tested, a best-in-class 12-megapixel camera, and impressive build quality. It runs Nougat 7.1 but is currently in carrier testing to run the latest OS version, Android Oreo. It’s also guaranteed to get fast updates for two years.

Last Updated:
This month

We’ve tested the Essential Phone, the Asus ZenFone AR, and the Moto Z2 Force, but all three phones are around the same price as the Google Pixel or the Samsung Galaxy S8, and they all have shortcomings that make them poor choices for most people. We’ve added extended impressions of all three phones to the Competition section. We’ve also decided not to test Sony’s new Xperia XZ1; we’ve added that model to the Competition section as well.

Two months ago:
Users in the US and UK have reported a glitch with our new “Also great” pick, the OnePlus 5, where attempts to make emergency calls instead trigger the phone to reboot. OnePlus has launched a software update to fix the issue, and is assisting people with complaints. We reached out to OnePlus and received confirmation that the update has been rolled out—however, availability of the update may vary by region. If users have not yet been notified, OnePlus said that the update can be found by going to Settings then System Updates.

Three months ago:
After our tests of the OnePlus 5 and the HTC U11, the OnePlus 5 replaces the outgoing OnePlus 3T as our favorite budget flagship phone. Its fast performance, solid software, and good-enough screen make it a compelling alternative for anyone who doesn’t want to shell out $700 or $800 for the extras in the Google Pixel or the Samsung Galaxy S8, which remain our top two picks.

Three months ago:
We’ve added three new phones—the Essential Phone, the OnePlus 5, and the Moto Z2 Play—to our What to look forward to section. While none are likely to displace the Pixel or the Galaxy S8 as a pick, we’ll be testing each soon. With the arrival of the new OnePlus phone, our best budget flagship pick will be discontinued, and we will likely replace it with either the OnePlus 5 or the Moto Z2 Play.

Four months ago:
After testing the Samsung Galaxy S8, it replaces last year’s Galaxy S7 as our pick for people who need to buy a phone through their carrier, or who want a phone with water resistance or a microSD card slot. We’ve also tested several other phones, including the LG G6, HTC U Ultra, and BlackBerry KEYone, but don’t recommend them for most people.

Four months ago:
After testing the Samsung Galaxy S8, we’ve decided that it will replace last year’s Galaxy S7 as our pick for people who need to buy a phone through their carrier, or who want a phone with water resistance or a microSD card slot. We’ve also tested several other phones, including the LG G6, HTC U Ultra, and BlackBerry KEYone. We’ll post the full update in a week or so.

Six months ago:
Samsung has debuted its latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S8, so anyone considering a Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge should hold off on getting either of those phones. We’ve added our initial thoughts about the S8 to the What to look forward to section below, and we will be testing it soon.

Seven months ago:
On February 22, 2017, Google confirmed that less than 1 percent of its Pixel devices have defective microphones, likely caused by a hairline crack in the solder connection on the audio codec. If you run into any problems with the microphone on your Pixel, Google recommends replacing your phone under warranty.

Google actually sells two Pixels: the regular one, with a 5-inch screen, and the Pixel XL, with a 5.5-inch screen. Aside from their size, display resolution, and battery capacity, the two phones are identical. Both versions offer more than a day of battery life, even under heavy use, though the Pixel XL lasts longer. The Pixel phones’ 12-megapixel camera is even better than the one in the Samsung Galaxy S8, and the rear fingerprint sensor is one of the most accurate we’ve used. While their build quality is excellent, neither Pixel has IP68 water resistance like the Galaxy S8, and they lack a microSD card slot. The Pixels work on all US carriers, though Verizon is the only one that sells the phones; you can also buy them directly from Google, which now offers monthly payment plans through its store, unlike in previous years.

If you want a phone with a microSD slot, wireless charging, or water resistance, or if you prefer to buy a phone through your carrier, consider the Samsung Galaxy S8 or S8+. The company’s new curved Super AMOLED screens are the best displays we’ve ever seen. They’re crisp and bright, and they have a taller aspect ratio with less “chin and forehead” on the front—that means the Galaxy S8 fits a 5.8-inch screen in a body that’s about the same size as the Pixel with its 5-inch screen. The Galaxy S8+ has a 6.2-inch screen in a body that’s similar in size to the 5.5-inch Pixel XL. The 12-megapixel camera found on both models takes excellent photos that are almost as good as the Pixel’s. The S8’s metal-and-glass body is attractive and includes IP68 water and dust protection, unlike the Pixels, and the Galaxy phones support wireless charging and microSD expansion. Because the new design finally drops physical navigation buttons in favor of virtual ones, the fingerprint sensor has moved to the rear of the phone—not necessarily a bad thing, but Samsung has placed the sensor next to the camera, where it’s hard to reach, especially on the S8+. The Galaxy S8 and S8+ ship with Android 7.0, which is older than the Pixel’s 7.1 build. While Samsung’s version of Android is better than it used to be, it still includes features of dubious value, and the Galaxy S8 is still not as fast or responsive as the Pixel, even though it has a newer processor.

The OnePlus 5’s screen and camera aren’t as good as those of our main pick, but it has a durable aluminum body and the best performance of any phone in its price range.

The OnePlus 5 is a great alternative to the more-expensive Pixel or Galaxy S8. It has a sturdy aluminum unibody design and a polished version of Android, and its fingerprint sensor is fast and accurate. This phone is also faster than the Galaxy S8, despite costing hundreds less. The 5.5-inch 1080p OLED display isn’t as crisp as Google’s or Samsung’s, though, and while the OnePlus 5 uses a dual-camera array with 2x optical zoom, the image quality falls short of that of either the Pixel or the Galaxy S8. It works only on GSM carriers like T-Mobile and AT&T, while both the Pixel and the Galaxy S8 work on those two plus CDMA carriers like Verizon and Sprint.

If you’re looking for a less-expensive option, check out our guide to budget Android phones. If you have a Mac or other Apple devices, you plan to do a lot of smartphone photography, or you just really like the iPhone, we also have a full guide to iPhones.

Want a sneak peek at what we're working on?

A weekly roundup of new guides, picks, and a preview of what’s to come.

Why you should trust us

Over the past five years, I’ve written more than a million words about Android phones, tablets, and software on websites such as Android Police, ExtremeTech, and Tested. I’ve also lived with dozens of Android phones as my “daily drivers” during that time. I’ve used and reviewed more phones in the past year than most people will own in their entire lives.

Should you upgrade?

The Wirecutter’s philosophy (as related in The New York Times, now the parent company of The Wirecutter and The Sweethome) on upgrading any product is that you should spend money on the things you use all the time and are important to you, and that you shouldn’t spend a lot on the rest.

If you’re happy with your current phone, don’t get a new one yet. The phones that will be available later will be better than the models out there today. On the other hand, if you use your phone constantly throughout the day and your old one isn’t serving you well anymore, get a new one.

If you’re happy with your current phone, don’t get a new one yet.

Another reason to consider an upgrade is if your current phone isn’t receiving software updates anymore. Without updates, your phone will get less secure over time—all software has bugs, which lead to security vulnerabilities, and if your phone isn’t getting updates, it isn’t getting fixes, either. And without updates, the phone won’t be able to take advantage of apps that require features present only in the latest OS. (Of course, newer apps may also require more power than an older phone’s hardware can supply.)

If your phone is more than a year or two old and your biggest complaint is that the battery life sucks, consider replacing the battery before replacing the phone. Most recent phones use sealed-in batteries, but you can usually ask the manufacturer or a third-party service to replace the battery. It’s a hassle, but it’s less of one than replacing the phone, and it’s a lot less expensive. If such an option isn’t feasible for you, any of our picks should get you through a day without issues.

When it’s time to buy a new phone, we recommend getting the best-rated, most recently released phone you can afford. On the major US carriers, that usually means paying $20 to $30 per month for two years on a finance plan. Why shouldn’t you save some money by getting whatever cheap phone your carrier offers? Those inexpensive phones often have some combination of substandard specs, poor build quality, bad interfaces, and outdated, crufty versions of Android, never to be updated again. Chances are, you’ll feel the difference in quality and usability every day. And they’re often already a year or two old, so they’ll be three or four years old by the time you pay them off—long past the last software update they’ll get. You’re almost always better off paying a bit more to get a better phone that you’ll enjoy using for at least two years.

Or—and this is an increasingly popular option as cheap phones get better—you could buy an unlocked phone outright.1 You can get a great Android phone unlocked—which means it’ll work on any compatible carrier—for $300 to $400, or even less if you’re willing to sacrifice a few features.

Our picks: Google Pixel and Pixel XL

The Google Pixel offers the best available hardware in a compact package.

The Pixel is the fastest Android phone we’ve ever tested, it has the best camera, and it offers the best version of Android you can get, with guaranteed timely updates for two years from release.

The Google Pixel is the best Android phone for most people. The 12-megapixel camera is the best we’ve seen on Android. The Pixel is noticeably faster than every other Android phone we’ve tested—even the newer Samsung Galaxy S8—and it runs the best version of Android, unencumbered by heavy skins and redundant features. Google’s hardware took a big step up with the aluminum Pixel, which comes in 5-inch and 5.5-inch (XL) variants. Because the two Pixels have almost identical specs, you don’t have to compromise on speed, RAM, or storage if you want a smaller phone. The main drawback of the Pixels is that they aren’t water resistant, unlike the iPhone 7 or Galaxy S8. They also lack microSD card slots, but come with up to 128 GB of built-in storage.

Verizon is the only US carrier that sells the Pixels in stores, but they’re also available on the online Google Store, unlocked for any carrier. Unlike most of the phones Google has sold before, the Pixels aren’t cheap. At the time of this writing, the 5-inch version was starting at $650 and the Pixel XL was starting at $760, each with 32 GB of storage. Bumping up to 128 GB adds $100 to each phone’s price. Although Google is asking flagship prices for these phones, the camera, software, and build quality make them more than a match for similarly priced phones like the Galaxy S8, and even the iPhone 7. At least Google is offering monthly payment plans, which wasn’t the case with the company’s older Nexus phones.

The Pixel’s 12-megapixel camera offers the same resolution as the Galaxy S8’s, and it takes even better photos, with accurate colors, good exposure in varied lighting conditions, and more fine details. And it’s fast. Really fast. It’s ready to snap a photo as soon as the camera app opens, and it doesn’t slow down to buffer. Even Google’s HDR (high dynamic range) photo captures are faster than Samsung’s now. In a long-term review posted after he’d used the Galaxy S8+, David Ruddock of Android Police writes, “I can’t stop taking pictures with the Pixel. I love this camera.” Google offers free, unlimited full-resolution backups to Google Photos of pictures and videos you take on the Pixel; it even backs up 4K videos in their original quality. (For anyone who doesn’t own a Pixel, Google Photos’s unlimited free backup option compresses photos and videos; uncompressed files count toward your storage quota.)

The Pixel and Pixel XL recently received an update to Android 8.0 Oreo, the latest version of the OS. Oreo includes features such as picture-in-picture video, autofill app support, and better battery life thanks to background app limits. It also retains all the features from Nougat, like split-screen apps and Daydream VR.

Google guarantees security patches for at least three years after the phone’s original release and major system updates for at least two years, so the Pixel will get next year’s big Android update too. The improved update system—a newer Android feature that has to be built into the phone and can’t be added later—can install updates in the background when you restart your phone. Most other phones seldom get updates, and when updates do arrive, your handset is unusable while the update installs. Samsung releases monthly security patches for its most popular phones as well, but Samsung’s patches can be carrier-delayed—Google’s aren’t. Full Android-version updates will take months longer on phones from Samsung, OnePlus, and other makers.

The Pixel’s design is unexceptional, but the build quality is best-in-class.

We’ve praised Samsung for its phones’ build quality in recent years, and the Google Pixel is just as great. The aluminum rear shell is better than the Galaxy S8’s glass back in the event you drop your phone (though the Gorilla Glass inlay at the top of the Pixel’s back may prove more vulnerable). Engadget’s review describes the Pixel’s design as “yawn-inducing” but concedes that the build quality is great.

As with almost all modern phones, the battery is not removable, but Dieter Bohn of The Verge writes, “Google was able to optimize battery life beyond what other Android phones can do.” The standard Pixel, with its 2,770 mAh battery, lasts as long as the Galaxy S8—comfortably longer than a day with heavy use. The Pixel XL’s 3,450 mAh battery gives that model even better longevity; you can almost get away with charging it every other day.

The Pixel XL (right) is identical to the smaller Pixel except for the larger display and battery.

The Pixel’s 5-inch, 1920×1080 AMOLED screen helps with the stellar battery life. At that size, it’s hard to tell the difference between 1080p and the 1440p AMOLED on the Galaxy S8, though Samsung’s screen has a slight advantage. The Pixel XL’s 2560×1440 AMOLED display looks a bit sharper than the Pixel’s 1080p panel, but it too falls a bit short of the Samsung screen in color and brightness.

Unlike the similarly priced Galaxy S8, LG G6, or iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, the Pixels aren’t water resistant. They’re fine in the rain or with minor splashes, but they won’t survive a dunking—disappointing in a phone this expensive, especially when all the serious competition can take the punishment. The Pixels also don’t offer a microSD card slot or 64 GB versions, which means if you want more than 32 GB of storage, you need to spend an extra $100 for the 128 GB version.

Also great: Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+

The best screen of any Android phone, a beautiful aluminum-and-glass design, water resistance, and a microSD slot.

If you prefer to buy a phone from your carrier, or if you want a phone with a huge screen, water resistance, a microSD card slot, or wireless charging, you should get the Samsung Galaxy S8 or S8+. In addition to those features, they have the best displays of any phone we’ve tested, and with curved sides, tall aspect ratios, and impressively narrow bezels, each one has a lot more screen than the Pixels do. The Galaxy S8, about the same size as the Pixel, fits a 5.8-inch screen in the same space as the Pixel’s 5-incher, and the S8+ offers a hand-stretching 6.2-inch screen in a chassis that’s about the same size as the 5.5-inch Pixel XL’s. Although the S8 and S8+ are great Android phones, they can’t quite match either Pixel’s camera, software, or responsiveness, and they’re both more expensive than the equivalent Pixels. In addition, Samsung’s software isn’t as responsive as the Pixels’ pure Android, and it won’t get updates as fast, though it’s better than what you get from LG or Huawei.

The S8 is available from all major carriers for around $750, usually with a payment plan that breaks down to $30 to $35 per month over two years. The S8+ is around $850, with a slightly higher monthly payment. Both are also available unlocked directly from Samsung.

The Galaxy S8 makes a good first impression with a 5.8-inch, 2960×1440 Super AMOLED display. (The 6.2-inch panel on the S8+ is the same resolution, but reaching all of the screen with one hand is more difficult.) Samsung’s new AMOLED is the brightest, sharpest display we’ve ever tested. DisplayMate says this screen can reach an astounding 1,000 nits of brightness for excellent outdoor readability, and the colors are more accurate than on other phones. The left and right edges of the screen curve down toward the back of the phone, giving the body a comfortable, rounded shape (although this design can make it more vulnerable to drops, as well). Samsung has improved its palm-rejection technology, too; the tech in last year’s curved phone, the Galaxy S7 Edge, caused a problem that led to phantom touches. Dan Seifert at The Verge writes, “I didn’t have an issue with errant touches with either the S8 or the S8 Plus in my time with them.”

The Galaxy S8 has a solid metal-and-glass body, but the fingerprint sensor is inconveniently placed high up on the back of the phone.

The metal-and-glass body of the S8 line feels extremely solid, and it’s rated IP68 for water and dust resistance, which means it’ll keep working after exposure to rain or even complete submersion in a pool. That’s something you don’t get with the Pixel or the OnePlus 5. Samsung finally killed the physical home button and the capacitive navigation buttons in favor of on-screen versions, and the portion of the screen that holds the home button is pressure-sensitive (like Apple’s 3D Touch, but only on part of the screen), so it works even when the screen is off. However, with this design decision, Samsung moved the fingerprint sensor to the back of the phone, and unlike on the Pixel, on the Galaxy S8 it’s very high up, right next to the camera, making it inconvenient to use and often leading to smudges on the camera. CNET warns: “You will curse this.”

The Galaxy S8 has a 12-megapixel main camera very similar in specs to the one on last year’s Galaxy S7. Its large, f/1.7 aperture lets it take in more light than the camera on many other phones, and it has optical image stabilization and almost instantaneous autofocus. The result is that the Galaxy S8 captures a bright, sharp photo in almost any lighting conditions the first time, whereas some other phones struggle to do so even occasionally. David Ruddock of Android Police writes, “[W]ith a steady hand you can get some pretty crisp shots where other phones would just render an unpleasing mess of noise and blur.” We still like the Pixel’s camera a little better, because it’s faster (both to open and to capture), its white balance is better in low light, and the HDR images look nicer. The Galaxy S8’s camera runs a close second, though.

The S8 and S8+ come with 64 GB of storage (a nice increase over the 32 GB you get in the base model of most phones), and a microSD card slot gives you the option of expanding the storage if you need to. The 3,000 mAh battery on the S8 is nonremovable, but it packs enough power to get you through more than a day of heavy usage, including games, messaging, email management, and navigation. The S8+’s 3,500 mAh battery lasts even longer. The Galaxy S8 includes wireless charging (both Qi and PMA), unlike the Pixel, but its wired fast-charging standard is the relatively ancient Quick Charge 2.0 instead of USB Power Delivery, so it’s slower than the Pixels’ wired charging.

The S8 and S8+ are the first phones to ship with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 CPU. However, Samsung prioritized battery life over speed, and as a result the Galaxy S8 is slower than phones (such as the Pixel and the LG G6) that have older processors. The Galaxy S8 is fast enough, but it won’t blow you away.

Samsung has been improving its Android interface a little each year, and the S8 version is better than the UI layers that companies like Huawei or LG use. However, the settings layout is confusing, and Samsung’s painfully colorful “squircle” icons stick out like a sore thumb. The Galaxy S8 also has Samsung’s new Bixby assistant, which takes up space on your home screen and even has its own hardware button. This feature does little more than list news stories and link to themes in the Samsung store—Tom’s Guide calls it “incomplete,” which is an understatement. In July 2017, three months after the Galaxy S8 launched, Bixby finally became available in the US. Samsung has also added support for Daydream VR, which had been limited to Pixel and Moto Z phones previously. The Pixel’s clean version of Android is much faster, easier to use, more attractive, and still a version ahead at Android 7.1, compared with 7.0 on the Galaxy S8.

Samsung has pledged to keep its flagship devices updated with monthly security patches, but it still struggles to stay caught up. On US carriers the Galaxy S7 regularly went two or three months between security patches, whereas the Pixel gets regular monthly updates and Google never misses a patch. Samsung also takes several months to push new Android versions, and shipping the Galaxy S8 with Android 7.0 instead of 7.1 seems like a bad way to start.

Best budget flagship phone: OnePlus 5

The OnePlus 5’s screen and camera aren’t as good as those of our main pick, but it has a durable aluminum body and the best performance of any phone in its price range.

If you’d rather not pay $700 to $800 for a phone (even spread out over two years), consider the $480 starting price of the OnePlus 5. Unlike phones in the $200 to $300 range, the OnePlus 5 doesn’t cut too many corners to keep its price low—it’s almost as good as phones like the Pixel and the Galaxy S8, thanks to blazing-fast hardware, excellent build quality, and a speedy fingerprint sensor. The 1080p display isn’t as sharp, and the camera is less reliable than the Pixel’s or the Galaxy S8’s, but the OnePlus 5 is still the best phone you can get for the price.

We recommend the cheaper $480 version of the OnePlus 5, which has a Snapdragon 835 processor, 6 GB of RAM, and 64 GB of storage (neither version of the OnePlus 5 includes a microSD card slot). A version with 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage is available for $80 more, but that’s overkill for most people. The OnePlus 5 is compatible only with GSM networks, such as those of AT&T and T-Mobile (the Pixel and Galaxy S8 both work on Verizon and Sprint, too), but it has full-band support for those networks, which means you’ll always get the best possible reception and speed; it’s also unlocked and designed to support dual SIM cards, a rarity for phones available in the US.

The OnePlus 5 has an aluminum unibody design, meaning the body of the phone is made from a single block of sturdy metal. OnePlus has refined its design sensibilities, and the OnePlus 5 is more compact and comfortable to hold than last year’s OnePlus 3T. On the left side is something you won’t find on any competing Android phones: an alert slider. This switch lets you toggle between normal, do-not-disturb, and silent-notification modes without waking the phone up. The OnePlus 5’s home button is also its fingerprint sensor, and the sensor is one of the fastest and most accurate we’ve ever tested—much faster than the Galaxy S8’s, and even a bit speedier than the one on the Pixel. Unlike the Galaxy S8, the OnePlus 5 isn’t water resistant, but OnePlus says it has tested the device to make sure it won’t die from a splash or two. We don’t recommend testing that assertion.

The OnePlus 5 is one of the fastest phones you can get. As I write in a review for Android Police, “the OnePlus 5 puts the Galaxy S8 to shame in terms of raw speed,” despite the fact that the two phones use the same Snapdragon 835 processor. The Pixel is a faster and more consistent performer, but it’s also much more expensive—the OnePlus 5 offers the best price-to-performance ratio of the flagship phones we’ve tested. The phone also includes 6 GB or 8 GB of RAM, whereas the Pixel and Galaxy S8 include only 4 GB, but that doesn’t actually make the phone feel any faster than those models, so it’s not as important.

Offering a 3,300 mAh battery, the OnePlus 5 will get through the day comfortably with more to spare than either the Pixel or the Galaxy S8. The OnePlus 5 does support fast charging, but not the Qualcomm Quick Charge tech that most other phones use, or even USB Power Delivery. Instead it uses Dash Charge, which works only with the included power adapter, and you can’t get Dash Charge chargers from anyone else. The phone will still charge at normal speed (that is, as fast as any non-fast-charge phone) with a standard USB-C cable and USB charger, and any fast charging is better than none, but using a proprietary charging technology is annoying.

The all-aluminum body of the OnePlus 5 feels great in the hand.

The OnePlus 5’s custom build of Android 7.1 Nougat, called OxygenOS, is “streamlined and simple,” according to Ron Amadeo of Ars Technica. It adds a number of cool extras to the stock Android software, such as gestures you can use with the screen off to launch the camera or turn on the flashlight. You’ll also find a dark-UI mode intended to make the phone more pleasant to use at night. OnePlus was one of the first phone makers to push a Nougat update last year, but the updates will never be as fast or reliable as the Pixel’s, since Google phones get those updates right away, and for at least two years. If you don’t mind dealing with some bugs, you can join other OnePlus 5 owners in participating in beta programs to receive updates faster, though we don’t recommend that for most people.

The dual-camera setup consists of an electronically stabilized 16-megapixel main sensor and a 20-megapixel telephoto one. The main camera is competent, but it falls short of the excellent cameras of the Google Pixel and the Samsung Galaxy S8. Its performance in varying lighting conditions is good and the noise is low, though its overly aggressive processing tends to obliterate fine details. The 2x optical zoom lens lets you capture objects farther away without losing detail, as you would with digital zoom, but it works only in good light: The zoom lens has no optical stabilization, and the phone will switch to digital zoom in low light. As Vlad Savov of The Verge writes, “An okay camera is no longer okay, and OnePlus’ addition of a new Pro shooting mode does little to overcome its imaging weaknesses.”

The OnePlus 5 uses the same display as the OnePlus 3 and 3T. The 1080p resolution is low enough that the PenTile subpixel pattern is visible, and text doesn’t look as crisp as it does on the 2560×1440 AMOLED panel of the Pixel XL and the 2960×1440 AMOLED display of the Galaxy S8. There’s also a subtle distortion, dubbed “jelly scrolling,” on the OnePlus 5 screen that you may not be able to unsee. It’s not a bad display, but a $480 phone should have a better one.

No carriers offer payment plans for the OnePlus 5 like those you can get for the Pixel or the Galaxy S8. But if you can afford to pay the full price of the phone and you don’t mind a middle-of-the-road display and camera, the OnePlus 5 is the best phone you can get for under $500. We’ve seen reports of issues with OnePlus’s warranty service in the past, but that situation appears to be improving. Our criticisms aside, we think the OnePlus 5’s low price makes it a compelling alternative to phones that cost almost twice as much.

Also worth considering

The phones below aren’t better for most people than either the Pixel or the Galaxy S8, but each fits a specific niche those don’t, or has a feature those lack. If, for example, long battery life or a physical keyboard is a must-have for you, they’re worth a look.

The Huawei Mate 9 is a big, excellent phone with Alexa support and amazing battery life, but a relatively low-res screen and a few software foibles.

The Huawei Mate 9 is a fast, unlocked phablet with a big battery in a slim package. It’s about the size of the Pixel XL, but it has a much larger screen and much better battery life. It’s also the only Android phone with support for the Amazon Alexa voice assistant. While it’s about $200 cheaper than the Pixel XL or the Galaxy S8, it works only on GSM networks such as those of AT&T and T-Mobile. Its screen has a lower resolution than the Pixel and Galaxy S8 screens, and its camera and software, though decent, aren’t as good, either.

Thanks to its 4,000 mAh battery, the Mate 9 lasted longer on a charge in our tests than any high-end Android phone we’ve tried: I was able to get three days of use out of a single charge. Aiding the battery life is the 1080p, 5.9-inch display—most phones of this size have 2560×1440 screens. (Higher-resolution screens use more power.) The custom Kirin 960 octa-core processor is powerful and efficient, and the Mate 9 has 4 GB of RAM just like the Pixel and the Galaxy S8.

The all-aluminum chassis looks nice and has extremely narrow bezels, a design that allows Huawei to squeeze that 5.9-inch LCD into a phone just a few millimeters wider and taller than the Pixel XL, which has a 5.5-inch screen. Like the Pixel, the Mate 9 has a fast and accurate rear-facing fingerprint sensor. It has a dual-camera array on the back, consisting of a 12-megapixel standard sensor paired with a 20-megapixel monochrome sensor. Using both at once helps make photos clearer and speeds up capture times. Photos from the Mate 9 aren’t quite as good as those from the Pixel or the Galaxy S8, but they are better than those taken with most other phones.

The Mate 9 ships with Android 7.0 Nougat with the EMUI 5.0 skin. Huawei has cleaned up its Android skin dramatically compared with earlier versions, with improvements to notifications, quick settings, and the home screen—it finally has an app drawer! The result is still inferior to the pure Android experience on the Pixel, and not quite as good as the interface on the Galaxy S8, but Huawei’s software is no longer a dealbreaker.

At $600, the Mate 9 is a little cheaper than most flagship phablets, and it’s unlocked, with support for GSM networks such as AT&T’s and T-Mobile’s. However, in contrast to the Pixel and Galaxy phones, it isn’t available on a monthly payment plan, and it won’t work on CDMA networks such as those of Sprint and Verizon. It uses proprietary fast-charging tech instead of Quick Charge or USB Power Delivery, so only its included adapter will quick-charge it. And unlike the Galaxy S8 and S8+, the Mate 9 isn’t water resistant. Unless battery life is your greatest concern, you should stick with one of our main picks.

The BlackBerry KEYone has a physical keyboard that will make fans of the classic BlackBerry design very happy.

The BlackBerry KEYone is the only modern Android phone with a physical keyboard. It offers excellent build quality, better battery life than the Pixel or the Galaxy S8, and a clean version of Android with added BlackBerry features. The KEYone isn’t as fast as the Pixel or the S8, and the price is a little high considering the midrange specs, but this is the keyboard-bearing phone some people have been waiting for. It’s the only real option if that’s what you want.

The keyboard takes up the bottom section of the phone (it’s not a slider like the BlackBerry Priv was), so you have no reason to buy this phone if you don’t plan to use that keyboard. If you do, it’s a very good physical keyboard. The keys have more travel than you might expect for a phone, and you can configure each key as a shortcut to launch apps or contacts. However, the keyboard leaves less room for the screen, which is only 4.5 inches. That’s a bit cramped by current flagship-smartphone standards, but the impact-resistant 1080×1620 LCD is bright and crisp. The 3,505 mAh nonremovable battery is huge in relation to the small screen, and as a result the KEYone can go two or three days between charges.

Although the KEYone is fast enough for managing email, messaging, and multitasking, it’s not as responsive as the Pixel, the Galaxy S8, or the OnePlus 5. The KEYone has 3 GB of RAM paired with a Snapdragon 625. That chip is already a year old, and it was reserved for cheap midrange devices when it came out, but if you’re buying this phone you’re not going to be playing games (except maybe Snake). BlackBerry uses a very clean build of Android, which includes few UI tweaks and no heavy background services; the KEYone also comes with a suite of very capable BlackBerry apps for unified messaging, security, and backup. It ships with Android 7.1.1, and BlackBerry remains committed to fast security updates.

While the keyboard is the KEYone’s main selling point, it’s also the best reason not to buy this model. You pay a premium price of $550 (unlocked for GSM or CDMA) for the KEYone, so you should buy it only if you demand a keyboard.

What to look forward to

Google has revealed the latest version of the Android operating system, Android 8.0 Oreo. The update’s highlights include picture-in-picture (which allows two apps to run on screen at the same time) and Autofill (which makes login and task management more fluid). Oreo’s notification dots feature allows you to quickly access and swipe when receiving important notifications from frequently used apps and home-screen apps. The update also comes equipped with a package of fully redesigned emojis and promises to strengthen battery power by limiting use of background apps. While our top pick, the Pixel, and some Nexus devices have the update, manufacturers such as Samsung and Huawei aren’t expected to roll out Android 8.0 Oreo to their phones until late 2017 or early 2018. We’ll have more-detailed thoughts on Oreo around the time of Google’s expected new Pixel phone launch in the fall.

Samsung has announced the follow-up to its infamously flammable Galaxy Note 7. The Galaxy Note 8, however, promises to be a much better offering. It has a 6.3-inch Infinity Display screen, and its wide-angle 12-megapixel dual camera has an f/1.7 lens. Like our also-great pick, the Galaxy S8, the Galaxy Note 8 is dust and water resistant and comes with a microSD card slot that’s capable of expanding the device’s storage from 64 GB to 256 GB. You also get an option for the device to house dual SIM cards, for personal and work phone numbers. We’re looking forward to testing the dual-SIM feature, along with the phone’s biometric authorization, wireless charging, and new S Pen capabilities. It runs Android 7.1.1 Nougat on a Snapdragon 835 processor, and is priced around $930 depending on your carrier. The Note 8 will be available in stores September 15.

LG has unveiled the V30, a slick follow-up to last year’s underwhelming V20, which was a passable offering we only recommended if you really wanted a phone with a removable battery. The new model ditches that feature in favor of a high screen-to-body ratio and dual-camera system. That’s a trade-off that, in our minds, makes the V30 worth considering, especially in light of early positive reviews we’ve seen. The phone should be available to consumers in the US this fall.

The competition

Essential Phone: The Essential Phone is the first phone from Essential, a startup founded by Android co-creator Andy Rubin. This phone includes a striking edge-to-edge LCD with almost zero bezel on the top, but it has a distracting cutout in the middle for the front-facing camera. The phone sports a titanium frame, and the rear panel is highly durable ceramic, whereas most other phones are aluminum and glass. The build of Android 7.1.1 Nougat is clean and free of bloatware, but it’s also buggy and prone to random lag. The biggest issue is the camera, which produces worse images than those of the Pixel or the Galaxy S8, and is often no better than on budget phones like the Moto G5 Plus. The Essential Phone is not worth the $700 price tag for the unlocked version. Sprint is also the only carrier that offers the phone directly, so you have to pay the full price up front if you’re on another carrier.

Asus ZenFone AR: Asus has the dubious honor of being Google’s second partner to ship a phone with Project Tango, the company’s augmented reality platform. The $600 ZenFone AR includes multiple cameras and sensors on the back to make augmented reality more reliable than on other phones. It’s a better phone than the first Tango device, the massive Lenovo Phab2 Pro, but it’s not a better choice than our picks. The camera quality is just okay, and Asus’s version of Android is more cluttered than what you get on the Pixel or the Galaxy S8. This model might be a more compelling option if Tango had worthwhile content, but most apps don’t use that platform. The ZenFone AR is also available only from Verizon; if you’re on another carrier, you have to pay the full price up front.

Moto Z2 Force: The Moto Z2 Force offers fast operation, has an excellent fingerprint sensor, and runs a clean version of Android Nougat. It has a shatter-proof display, which is useful if you’re a butterfingers and always dropping phones. However, the plastic that covers the indestructible AMOLED screen is extremely soft and easy to scratch—even a fingernail will leave a mark. The phone is expensive at $720 unlocked and via carriers, and buying Motorola’s spendy Moto Mod modular accessories only drives the price up. The battery packs make sense, but a $300 projector or 360-degree camera less so.

LG G6: The LG G6 isn’t a bad phone, but it isn’t better than the Pixel or the Galaxy S8 in any regard. Like the Galaxy S8, this phone takes advantage of a taller screen ratio and narrow bezels to cram a big display (5.7 inches here) into a manageable frame. The 1440p LCD is nice, but not as nice as the AMOLED display of the Pixel or the Galaxy S8. Although the G6 is fast and runs Android 7.0, the Pixel is noticeably faster and is already on Android 7.1. Unlike past LG phones (including the V20), the LG G6 does not have a removable battery. That limitation will put off some longtime LG fans, but the G6’s glass-and-aluminum frame feels very solid, and the phone is water and dust resistant like the Galaxy S8. Even though the G6 is much better than last year’s G5, most people will be happier with one of our main picks.

LG V20: If you absolutely have to have a phone with a removable battery, the LG V20 is one of your only options. With this phone, LG took what was good about the G5 (its unpopular early 2016 flagship) and ditched the rest. That means vastly better build quality than the G5 had, and no expensive modular accessories. However, the V20 is still clunkier and less comfortable to hold than the Pixel, the Galaxy S8, or the newer LG G6. Aside from the battery, you have no real reason to choose this model over one of our picks.

HTC U Ultra: The HTC U Ultra is a pretty phone—until you touch it. The highly polished mirror finish of the glass chassis picks up fingerprints and smudges more than the surface of any other phone we’ve tested. The phone is fast, but the 3,000 mAh battery struggles to last a day. The U Ultra also lacks a headphone jack, despite the fact that this is a big phone with a 5.7-inch LCD—it should have plenty of space for the jack. HTC borrowed a trick from LG’s V series and added a ticker display above the main one, but HTC’s version is buggy and not as useful as LG’s. The biggest issue with the U Ultra, however, is that it costs $750 unlocked with no payment-plan option and no sales through carriers, and it works only on GSM networks, such as AT&T’s and T-Mobile’s. We can see no reason to buy it over the Pixel or the Galaxy S8.

HTC U11: The HTC U11 is a better phone than the slightly older U Ultra, but it’s still not competitive with phones like the Pixel and the Galaxy S8. Although the U11 offers hardware similar to that of the Galaxy S8, including a Snapdragon 835 processor and 4 GB of RAM, and it is a fast phone, it has no headphone jack. You can squeeze the U11 to trigger actions and open apps using HTC Edge Sense, but the specially treated all-glass chassis is particularly slippery and shows every smudge and fingerprint. Availability is also a big problem for this phone: Sprint is the only carrier selling the U11, where it’s priced at $700, or almost $30 a month for 24 months. An unlocked version is available from HTC for $650, but the only available payment plan requires you to sign up for a PayPal Credit line.

Sony Xperia X series: The problem with Sony’s phones used to be that they were good, but you couldn’t buy them from official US retailers. Now the problem is that you can buy them, but they aren’t good and cost far too much.

Sony’s midrange Xperia X Compact and flagship Xperia XZ are both out now, and the Xperia XZ1 became available in September 2017. The 4.6-inch X Compact and the 5.2-inch XZ both have 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage, but the XZ has a 1080p display (versus the X Compact’s 720p) and a better processor. The Xperia X Compact sells for a little less than $400 unlocked, and the Xperia XZ costs around $500. The Xperia XZ1 (which costs around $700) ships with Android 8.0 Oreo, but that’s about the only good thing it offers. The display quality is far behind that of other manufacturers, and it has a lot of bezel around the screen. The camera has some cool features, such as 960 fps slow-motion video, but the image quality is average at best. Sony has also disabled the fingerprint sensor on this phone in the US, which is ridiculous when phones like the sub-$100 Moto E4 have one. We don’t plan to test these models, as we don’t anticipate their replacing any of our picks for US buyers.

(Photos by Ryan Whitwam.)

Footnotes:

1. Most carrier-purchased phones are locked to that carrier at the time of purchase; once you’ve paid off the phone, the carrier will usually unlock it upon request. Verizon phones are the exception, as they aren’t locked—though they use a different network than AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile. Jump back.

Ryan Whitwam writes about all areas of technology and science, but especially Android. His extensive musings on Android can be found at Android Police and Tested.com. He also contributes regularly to Geek.com, ExtremeTech, and more. When he's not writing about amazing things that actually exist, he writes science fiction.

We help support the hundreds of hours that go into our evaluations through affiliate commissions on purchases made through our links. We’re committed to publishing unbiased guides that clearly detail our decision-making criteria to our readers, but we just want you to know.

Here's how to support our writers and our work. For more on our ethics, ideas and how we work, read this. We obtain the products we review through a mixture of buying our own and working with companies to borrow review units. Our policy is to return or donate products after we’re finished working with them.

Find an error?: Also, If you notice a guide that needs a little freshening up, or has errors, please tweet us at @wirecutter or email us at notes@thewirecutter.com and we'll fix it. Thank you.